ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A sweep of all three events boosted the Navy men's swimming and diving team to a 42-point lead after an abbreviated day one at the Patriot League Swimming and Diving Championship at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis.  Navy accrued 215 points in the three events to better Army's second-place score of 173.

Army won both of the contested women's races with Navy finishing in second place in each to give the Black Knights a 16-point lead (128-112) on the Mids.

200 Medley Relay
Women
Army entered the meet as the top-seeded team and the Black Knights made their seed hold up as they posted a time of 1:38.37 to edge the second-place effort of 1:38.85 by Navy.  Both teams bettered the meet record (1:39.15) and Army also was under the league record (1:38.48).

Men
The Black Knights had registered the top time in the league this season (1:22.95), but tonight they were surpassed by both Navy and Loyola. The Mids finished the race in a time of 1:23.55 to better the meet (1:23.74) and Navy (1:23.80) records.  The foursome of Ben Irwin, Juan Mora, Lachlan Andrew and Ben Denman-Grimm gave the Mids the victory by one-tenth of a second over Loyola, with Army placing third in a clocking of 1:23.80.

"There was a lot of anticipation heading into tonight's events and especially with the 200 medley relay," said Navy men's swimming head coach Bill Roberts.  "This is a very competitive event in the Patriot League as we were taking nothing for granted.  We knew going in we could have a school record setting relay, yet end up placing third."

Army was in first place after the 50 yards of the backstroke with a 20.57, while Loyola was in second at 20.78 and the Mids were in third with a time of 21.32.  The placings shifted after the breaststroke as the Greyhounds led at 44.02, the Mids were in second at 44.28 and Army fell to third at 43.45.  The Black Knights moved back into first place after the butterfly with a time of 1:04.63, Loyola fell to second place with a clocking of 1:04.69 and Navy dropped to third with a 1:05.01.  Denman-Grimm recorded a blistering time of 18.58 in his 50 yards of freestyle swimming to give the Mids the dramatic victory by four-hundredths of a second over the Greyhounds and 21-hundredths of a second over the third-place Black Knights.

"This has to be one of the most exciting relay races I have witnessed in my entire coaching career," said Roberts.  "I am so happy for these four who were able to get to the wall first."

Men's Three-Meter Diving
Three Mids advanced to the eight-diver championship final.  Anthony Sciulli led the way (355.85), Finn Gelbach was second (346.40) and Luke Ogren was eighth (297.80).  The Navy trio was even better at night as it swept all three podium positions.  Gelbach claimed the title with a score of 364.95, Ogren followed in second place with a 347.55 and Sciulli earned the bronze medal with a score of 341.70 points.

800 Freestyle Relay
Women
Another close race ensued in the 800 free relay as Army narrowly edged Navy for the victory. The Black Knights recorded a time of 7:13.83 to edge the Mids and their second-place clocking of 7:14.39.  

Army led by nearly two seconds after 200 yards, then the Mids took a seven-tenths of a second lead after 400 yards.  The third leg was where the Black Knights built a little cushion as they had a total time of 5:24.86 through 600 yards and Navy had accrued a clocking of 5:27.06.  Navy anchor swimmer Allie Maloney gradually cut down the deficit as she trailed by 2.12 seconds after 50 yards, 1.45 seconds after 100 yards and by 81-hudredths of a second after 150 yards.  In the end, though, she fell just 56-hundredths of a second short.

"There was amazing energy in Lejeune Hall and it led to a very good first night," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison.  "Our goal was to outperform our relay teams from last year, and we accomplished that. We are excited for Thursday morning and look forward to keeping the momentum going."

Men
In contrast, the Navy men's team led from start to finish as its lead grew from nearly four seconds after 200 yards, to almost seven seconds at the midpoint of the race and then just about eight seconds after the third leg.  The Mids –– Dean Jones, Xavier Sohovich, Martin Perecinsky, Benjamin Stankovich –– would finish the race in a time of 6:13.34 to win by over 13 seconds to shatter the school, pool and league records (6:18.54) and meet record (6:18.52).

Army placed second with a time of 6:26.62.

Women's Scores
1. Army - 128
2. Navy - 112
3. Bucknell - 104
T4. Loyola - 100
T4. Lehigh - 100
T6. Boston - 94
T6. Colgate - 94
8. American - 92
9. Holy Cross - 84
10. Lafayette 689

Men's Score
1. Navy - 215
2. Army - 173
3. Boston - 159
4. Bucknell - 147
5. Loyola - 135
6. Holy Cross - 126
T7. Lehigh - 98
T7. American - 98
9. Lafayette - 96
10. Colgate - 91